Carlyle raises E760m for real estate

The Carlyle Group has raised €760m for its second European real estate fund, Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners II. Carlyle now has seven real estate funds totalling $4bn of committed capital. Last month, Carlyle also announced the launch of Carlyle Asia Real Estate Partners at $410m, and its US real estate fund, Carlyle Realty Partners IV at $950m.

Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners II will invest in opportunities primarily in office, logistics, retail properties, but also in the hotel and residential sectors across Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain and the Nordic countries. The team has already signed five transactions from the fund for more than €400m, including the acquisition of three residential developments for 400 apartments in Copenhagen from NCC, and the 26-building portfolio in Italy from Beni Stabili for €255m.

The fund will be managed by a team of 27, including acquisition and asset management professionals, based in France, Germany and Italy. The team has a proactive and highly selective approach to acquisitions and asset management investing in both existing structures and land for development. The fund has a single asset approach in the €20m to €80 million asset class, but also invests in portfolios.

Eric Sasson, managing director and head of the European real estate team said: “We are delighted to have received such good support from our investors for our second fund, and believe that there is good potential in the real estate market in Europe. There are increasing amounts of corporate sales of properties, vacancy rates are declining and there have been few new developments. Our proactive strategy of refurbishing existing buildings and development of new properties puts us in a strong position to take advantage of the current environment.”